One Out of a Thousand Chances
by Anonymoose13
Summary: After her friend drags her to the practice match between Karasuno and Aoba Johsai, Minami begins to run into her classmate, Oikawa Toru, more often than she ever has before. How will she react to this known flirt turning his attention on her for the first time in the many years they've been classmates? How will his interest in her impact his dedication to his team? Read to find out
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my new story. I'll keep this brief. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story, which means I am open to any suggestions, and constructive criticisms! It also might take a few chapters to take off anywhere, but I'll do my best! This will also be a pretty light story with not a whole lot of angst and crazy action drama. But there will be a little of that. Gotta have a plot at some point, right?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Haikyuu or any of the characters mentioned in it, but I did come up with the characters Rei and Minami, and probably any other character that you do not recognize and I do not give credit for in future.**

"Oi! Minami!" My head jerked off my hand at the sound of my name. I smiled as I found the source of the noise.

"Hey, Rei."

Rei wrinkled her nose at me. She hated when I rhymed her name, which is why I did all the time. "You're so mean, Mi-chan!" Suddenly her nose was shoved in the air and she announced pompously, "Now I'm not sure I want to invite you to what I was going to invite you to."

"No!" I gasped in mock horror. "Rei-sama, I am so sorry! Please forgive me!" I couldn't help myself. I started snickering at the end of my insincere apology.

Rei giggled and caved. "Very well. But seriously, I'm going to watch the boys joint practice with Karasuno now, you want to come?"

I quirked my lips. Did I? I didn't have anything better to do, so, "Yeah, sure. Thanks, Rei."

"Well, then come on! Let's go!""

I pushed my chair back from my desk, shoved my notebook and pencil into my school bag, and stood up, flicking my long brown hair behind my shoulders. The bulky black boot on my right leg made a loud click every other step as I followed my best friend toward the gym.

"Slow down Rei!" I whined.

"Speed up, slowpoke!" She called back, but she did slow down a bit so that we walked into the gym at the same time.

I tugged Rei's elbow to sit down on one of the first bleacher rows, not really looking forward to climbing many stairs. She rolled her eyes but sat with me. It wasn't a great view of the court, but we could still see just fine, and hear the players communicate with their coaches and each other.

I cheered loudly with Rei every time a good play was made by Aoba Johsai regardless of if they made a point, and clapped politely when Karasuno did well. This may have only been a practice match, but the two teams were playing as hard as if it were a championship game.

Karasuno really wasn't a bad team, like their reputation had suggested. Their setter seemed to be able to connect well with the surprisingly short middle blocker. This seemed to upset a few of the players from my school for some reason. I didn't know much about Aoba Johsai's boys volleyball team except that they were really good. And from what I could see, their reputation held true. Although Karasuno fought bravely and was able to keep up with Aoba Johsai, my school brought out a secret weapon I didn't even know we had.

"Hey," I poked Rei. "Who's subbing in now?"

He was tall, and admittedly very good looking, but there was something about the curve of his smile that unsettled me.

"That's Oikawa Tooru," Rei sighed wistfully. "He's the captain of the boys team."

"If he's the captain, then why is he only subbing in now?" I wondered. ' _He certainly grew up.'_

Of course, Rei had an answer. "Rumor is that he twisted his ankle a few weeks ago." She cast a subtle glance at my booted foot.

I glared at the boot encasing my foot. It was really unfortunate that I had broken my ankle a few months ago and I couldn't wait until the doctors told me I could get rid of the annoying thing.

I looked back up at the game and gasped. The game ball had ricocheted off one of the players arms and was now speeding at my face! I let out a soft _eep!_ of shock and closed my eyes. Instinctively, my hands came together and deflected the ball back in an arc toward the Aoba Johsai side.

I opened my eyes to see everyone on and off the court staring at me with wide, scared eyes. I guess it would be a bit scary to see a ball shoot at an already clearly injured girl who hadn't been paying much attention. Everyone else must have been worried that I had gotten hurt again.

"I'm fine!" I waved and smiled, hoping that the game would finish up and people would stop staring at me.

Once the referee indicated that play should resume, and Oikawa was leaping into the air to deliver a very impressive spike serve, I groaned and dropped my face onto Rei's shoulder.

She laughed at me, "Haha! You should see your face, Mi-chan! You're so red!"

I let out an indecipherable noise and shoved her shoulder gently. "Stop being so mean! That was embarrassing!"

"That was a pretty impressive return, though," Rei smirked and nodded at my foot. "I thought you weren't supposed to be practicing while you're in that thing."

"Eh," I shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe not…" The truth was, I wasn't supposed to be practicing, but I figured that as long as I wasn't doing anything to damage my ankle further, I could work on techniques that only required the use of my arms. So for the last three months, I had been setting against the gym wall during the ocassional lunch period, lying down and setting above my head, and working on hand passes and tomahawk control.

When the cast came off and the boot was put on, I started practicing standing serves. Maybe when the boot came off I'd be able to get my jump float back up to par and work on a jump spike. To be anywhere near the level of Oikawa's serve would be a success.

Speak of the devil, the game must have ended while I was lost in my thoughts, and now the great captain himself was walking towards me and Rei.

"Hey," He gave us a sort of smirk, looking down his nose at us.

"Hi," Rei breathed.

I didn't particularly want to reply to him. At least not while sitting. His attitude practically oozed off his person and permeated the air. I stood, my expression closed off. "Hello, Oikawa-san." I was a bit miffed that I still had to sort of look up at him despite standing more than a step above him on the bleachers.

Rei apparently didn't seem to catch the attitude the captain exuded. "You played really well!"

Oikawa turned his attention to Rei. "Thank you." Then his eyes flickered back to me. "That was an impressive pass earlier. I'm sorry we didn't control the ball better. You could've gotten hurt."

I narrowed my eyes. The words were pretty, and his expression seemed sincere and a bit upset. I didn't know what to make of him or what to say, so I fell back on the manners I had been taught.

"It's fine, Oikawa-san. I wasn't hurt, so you don't need to apologize!"

His eyes widened almost innocently. "But that pass was so good! You even had your eyes closed and still managed to return it perfectly! If you hadn't, you could've gotten hurt even worse."

"I've had a lot of practice," I shrugged it off, ignoring his glance at my boot. Honestly, it's like my classmates had never seen someone with a healing bone before. Geez. It's not like I was dying or anything. "But I am glad I didn't get hit in the face. A concussion on top of a broken ankle wouldn't have been much fun."

"I can imagine," Oikawa replied. His attitude suddenly seemed to shift to something even more unreadable. "So you play volleyball?"

I couldn't help but to respond wryly and honestly. "Not for a few months now."

"Obviously," He rolled his eyes. "But before you got hurt?"

My expression brightened as I thought back a few months to my volleyball practices, so much so that I even ignored Oikawa's rudeness. "Yes, for years. And as soon as I am allowed, I'll get right back to playing!"

"What position?" He asked.

I thought about that one. I didn't really have a set position. "Whatever is needed, I suppose. But My favorite is right side. I like to attack more than defend."

Oikawa nodded sagely, but also a bit condescendingly. "I can understand that I guess. But I think setter is the most important position." And there went his nose, right back into the air.

I wasn't in the mood for yelling, so I just smirked and said, "If you don't mind being a supporting player."

Oikawa's head snapped around to look me in the eyes. "What?" He demanded.

"I mean, it's definitely an important position. The setter controls where the ball goes and sets up the attack, but at the end of the play, it's the hitter who gets the credit for the point," I explained, my tone suggesting that he was stupid for not understanding.

"Oh God!" Rei interrupted, tugging at my arm. "I just forgot! We have somewhere we have to be! Umm, now! Good game, Oikawa-san!" Rei pushed me as I just stared at her in befuddlement. We didn't have anywhere to be, did we?

"Woah!" I stumbled due to Rei's insistent pushing and tripped down the few steps of the bleachers.

I flailed my arms, trying to regain my balance, and clutched onto the first stable thing I could find. Which just so happened to be Oikawa's hand. My cheeks flushed, in embarrassment probably. My hand tightened around his, my heart still pounding from my near accident.

I felt Rei tugging the back of my shirt that she had grabbed in an effort to stop me from falling.

"Uh, thanks, Oikawa-san." I muttered. He held onto my hand for the next few steps with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"You're very accident-prone," He said, which I interpreted as, "You're welcome."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Apparently," as drily as I could. "Anyway, like Rei said, we do have somewhere to be, and if it's worth nearly killing me for, I hope it's important. Your team did well, Oikawa-san."

Oikawa beamed and waved as Rei and I left the gym.

 **Thanks for reading, and please drop a kindly worded review if you feel so inclined!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to the people who have favorited, and the one guest reviewer! I'm glad that this is being enjoyed by someone other than myself. Here's chapter 2! If there are any questions or suggestions, please let me know.**

 **Disclaimer: Do not own Haikyuu or any of its plot devices or characters.**

Once out of the gym, Rei whirled around on me. "What was that?" She demanded.

"What was what?" I wondered.

"You were flirting with Oikawa-san!"

"What?" I looked at my crazy best friend, wondering what was going on in her twisted brain. "No, I wasn't."

Rei rolled her eyes. "Of course you were!"

I merely shrugged. Rei would come to her own conclusions, and my continuous denial would only make her more sure of herself.

"The question is," she continued, heedless of my boredom with the topic. "Why was he flirting with _you_?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Ignoring that clear insult to my desireability, _Rei_ ," my tone making it clear that I was, in fact, insulted. "It was Oikawa. He flirts with anything that's breathing, intentionally or not. He could try to charm a snake and not realize he was doing it."

"Then why wasn't he flirting with me?" Rei shot back with a satisfied grin.

"Well, you weren't exactly breathing when he was around, were you?"

Rei growled and shoved my shoulder.

"Oi!" I exclaimed, grabbing her arm for balance. "Don't push the crippled!"

Rei continued to tease me as we slowly walked back home, but what she said stuck with me, despite my protests.

Why had Oikawa come to talk to me? We had gone to the same schools since grade school, but we had never had the same friend groups and had hardly ever spoken. And despite not being one of his crazy stalkers, _ahem_ , fans, even I had to admit he was attractive. Very attractive. Too bad I trusted him as far as I could throw him. Which was not at all.

Later that night, after I had finished my homework and was laying on my bedroom floor setting above my head, I came to a decision. I was an idiot. I had NOT spent the entire evening pining after a chance meeting with a beautiful boy, but he had been floating in the back of my mind. And when I wasn't paying attention, he would somehow make his way to the forefront of my mind before I could shove him back to where he belonged.

Groaning, I set the volleyball in a beautiful arc to land in a clothes hamper on the other side of the room. Then I rolled over and pressed my face into the carpet of my room. _'No.'_ I decided. _'I'm not going to worry about this anymore. I'll go to class tomorrow and continue as if I had never spoke to Oikawa, and Rei never made those stupid comments.'_

Satisfied, I crawled into my bed and fell into a pleasantly dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Good morning!" A chipper voice sang in my ear. I lifted my head off the soft pillow of my arms to greet Ayame, one of the other wing spikers on Aoba Johsai's girls volleyball team. I stared blankly at her for a second, sighed, propped my head on my hand, and smiled tiredly at her. It didn't matter how much sleep I had gotten the night before, I hated mornings.

"Morning Ayame-chan," I mumbled.

Rei wasn't quite as kind. She didn't even raise her head, but lifted a hand, with much effort, and rudely gestured in Ayame's direction.

"Detention, Yamato-san. At lunch."

Rei's head shot off her arms and she groaned. It was too bad for Rei that she had flipped off Ayame at the same moment our teacher walked into the room. I groaned as well. Rei and I ate lunch together, so it looked like I would have to figure out something else to do during that period. Maybe I'd go to the gym and eat with my teammates, or watch them practice if they were in there. It was just sad for me to watch them go all out when they practiced and know that I couldn't play that hard.

Finally, lunch rolled around and I gathered my things to leave the classroom when I felt a hand latch onto mine.

"Please don't leave me!" Rei whined, cutting off my circulation with her vice grip.

"Come on, Rei," I sighed and tried to pry her fingers off of mine. "It's your own fault. Let go and be responsible!"

"Nooooo!" She cried, actual tears filling her eyes. "It wasn't my fault! I was still asleep! How can that count against me?" She was seriously starting to irritate me as she continued to whine about the unfair grudge the teacher, and fate, seemed to have against her while I struggled against her grip.

"Hayate-san, would you like to join Yamato-san for her detention?"

Rei bobbed her head up and down excitedly. My entire demeanor darkened and I glared witheringly down at her. Hell no, I didn't want to spend the lunch period in detention! My death glare seemed to have the desired effect as, with a squeak, my hand was free.

I adjusted my jacket, grabbed my lunch, glared at Rei again for good measure, and gave the teacher a tight smile in an attempt to mask my irritation as I left the class. "No thank you, I would not like to join Rei-chan. I'll just be going now."

I swept out of the room as gracefully as I could with my boot, my attitude rolling off me in waves. I was definitely going to the gym now. There was no better way to get rid of frustration and annoyance than pounding a ball into someone's face. But the wall would have to do.

"Well, you're certainly chipper," a voice commented lightly as the owner fell into step beside me.

"Hello, Oikawa-san," I huffed, not really in the mood to talk to anyone but still trying to seem polite.

"Where are you going in such a tizzy, Minami-chan?"

I nearly tripped. How did he know my name? I couldn't remember the last time we had spoken aside from yesterday, but it had to have been before we started high school. And who did he think he was, addressing me so informally! "Hayate-san, please." I corrected him stiffly, feeling slight satisfaction at the way his eyebrow furrowed. Guess he wasn't used to girls not falling at his feet around him. "And I'm going to the gym."

"Really?" He raised a brow and looked pointedly at my foot.

I glared at him. "Really."

Surprisingly, his expression changed to one of what looked like genuine concern, and only slight condescension. "You really shouldn't stress yourself too much or it'll take longer to heal."

I sighed, some of the tension draining from my shoulders. "Thanks, Oikawa-san, but I'm not pushing it too far. I'm just hitting the ball against the wall. It's no more strenuous than walking to and from school."

"Well, maybe I could come with you, and get the ball for you if you miss?"

I didn't know whether to be surprised and suspicious, or insulted. I figured it would be stupid and pointless to be insulted, so I went with the former. "Why?"

Oikawa seemed stumped before he shrugged. "I want to. Besides, Iwa-chan abandoned me for the library 'cause he didn't finish an assignment last night!"

I figured it couldn't hurt to let Oikawa tag along. He wasn't being particularly annoying, and he was making decent conversation, so his company would be nice. But I wasn't going to just go along with him. I wanted to see if he would change his mind if I changed the rules just a bit.

"Well, I don't really need a ball boy. I'm a hitter; I never miss." I smirked arrogantly. Of course, I knew that was absolute bull shit, but again, I just wanted to see how Oikawa would react to a girl that was a bit different from what he was used to.

His eyes widened and he pulled back a little. Whether it was surprise at my apparent refusal of his company, or at the following statement I'd never know so I continued on.

"But I could use a partner if you think you're up to the task."

He blinked, then laughed. And I think it was an honest laugh. And it was beautiful. Crap.

"I think I can handle it," he smirked.

"We'll see then, won't we?" I challenged as I pushed open the gym doors. Obviously we weren't going to be competing one on one, and if we were I wouldn't be much of a competitor, but I wasn't going to let Oikawa have a big head around me. I was too stubborn for that.

It was incredible, really. In one short conversation with Oikawa, most of my stress from Rei and the built up annoyance over not really being able to play volleyball had melted away. It was probably because I was getting closer to the gym the whole time I was talking to him. However, I had a slight suspicion that Oikawa hadn't hurt the situation any. I really needed to just empty my mind but it was probably going to be hard to do that with Oikawa as my partner.

 **This chapter feels kind of stilted, and the conversations seem weird, but it'll do for now. Please review and thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

I put my bag and lunch near the side of the gym and picked up a ball from the cart by the wall. Deftly, I spun it in my hands and bounced it a few times. Satisfied, I looked up at Oikawa who had put his jacket and lunch near mine. We walked closer to the center of the gym before I tossed the ball to him.

He immediately sank into a perfect receiving position and sent the ball back to me in a high arc. I smiled and set it back to him the best I could. In return, he spiked the ball back. His hit was just a little bit off, but he was a setter so I supposed I could forgive him. Besides, it was barely noticeable that it was off a little, and had a little too much power behind it for a friendly hit at an injured person.

I passed it to him and he set it up for my turn to spike. Somehow, he knew exactly where to put the ball so that I could spike it back at him without any problem despite not ever having practiced together. He really was something. I hit the ball with a satisfying, deep smack and returned it to Oikawa softer than I would have in a game so that we could continue passing back and forth. Again his return was nearly flawless. My set back to him was definitely not on the same level as his was to me, but it was good enough that he didn't have to move too much to land a solid hit on the ball.

We passed like that _bump, set, spike, bump, set, spike,_ for fifteen minutes in near silence. Oikawa was barely making me move to get the ball, he had such incredible control. My control wasn't quite as good, but neither of us was sweating much from chasing down the ball, so I wasn't bad either. Unfortunately, I was getting bored with the consistent, perfect repetition of the three passes so I decided to switch it up. When my turn came to spike, I set it instead.

Oikawa's eyes widened, but that was the only sign of his surprise that showed before he broke into a grin and returned the set with his own. "You want to set against a setter?"

"Nope," I replied, much more relaxed than I had been earlier. "I want to set _with_ a setter. I've spent most of the last few months setting to myself. I've gotta see if I've gotten any better. And who better to tell me than our school's famous setter himself?"

He eyed me critically for a few sets, then said, "I suppose you could be worse!"

Too bad for him, he said that as soon as he set the ball to me. Without even thinking, instead of setting it back to him in an arc, I pressed the ball much, much lower.

" _Ooof!_ " Oikawa clearly hadn't been expecting my, _ahem_ , more aggressive reaction and toppled over, dramatically clutching his stomach. The ball bounced away, thumping softly against the wood floor. "Owww… Minami-san is so mean…" he moaned as he rocked from side to side on the ground.

I tried to act annoyed, but I couldn't keep a straight face, and broke into giggles. "And Oikawa-san is such a baby," I teased.

He cracked an eye and grinned up at me.

I smiled back, feeling very at peace. A moment later I realized that no one had said anything, and our eye contact was beginning to feel uncomfortable. I quickly turned around and picked up the ball.

"Are we not continuing?"

I turned my head as I walked toward the ball cart to notice that Oikawa had sat up as was watching me put away the ball. "Nope," I smiled to let him know that I wasn't stopping because I was upset. "It's almost the end of lunch and I haven't eaten yet."

Oikawa got up and followed me over to where we had put our things down. We picked up our bags and walked outside to eat at a bench in the shade.

We fell into a silence that to me was uncomfortable. When we had been quiet in the gym it had felt natural. We were too busy focusing on the ball and how to react to it that we didn't really need to fill the silence with anything. But now, I felt like the silence had to be filled with something. The problem was, I didn't know what.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, our silence was shattered as a group of first or second year girls made their way noisily to our bench. I knew what they were coming for. Or more specifically, _who_ they were coming for, and I was not going to get in the way of that.

I packed up most of my lunch that I hadn't gotten to eat and stood up. Oikawa looked up at me. "Thank you for keeping me company during lunch, Oikawa-san. I'm sure I'll see you around." The corner of my mouth quirked up in a sort of half smile.

Oikawa's eyebrows furrowed as he gave me a questioning look.

"You have company," I answered his unasked question, and nodded toward the girls that were getting closer.

His eyes lit up and he gracefully rose to his feet. "Ah!" He exclaimed and took my hand.

My own eyes widened as my brows drew down. I felt almost scared of what he was going to do next.

"It was my pleasure!" He beamed and placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand.

My breath caught in my throat and I snatched my hand back as if he had burned me. I didn't know whether to cry, or slap him, or run. Granted, it was just a kiss on the back of the hand, but to me that just reinforced his reputation of being a monstrous flirt. I settled on staring at him with wide eyes for a few seconds before turning on my heel and walking away as fast as I could.r

 **I don't have much to say about this chapter except that I'm not sure how it turned out, so please drop a short review telling me what you liked or what you hope to see in the future, or constructive criticism. It feels like it's moving very slowly, so I'll release a few more chapters in the next few days before my classes start up again.**

 **Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for the faves, follows, and review! Please enjoy this chapter!**

Who knew what he saw in my eyes before I had run from him, but he didn't chase after me, didn't apologize, and didn't even spare me a second thought before he turned to greet his fans who were squealing over how great Oikawa-sama was.

The strangest thing was, I felt betrayed. But I had no right to feel that way. Although I had known of Oikawa for years, I had never really known him. And he had never known me. But I thought that he would at least show me a small amount of respect instead of playing with me.

I think the part about this whole experience with Oikawa was that I didn't know _why_ he started bothering with me now. He had had thousands of chances to talk to me, and he chose now to do so?

He could have made sure I was okay at the game and then left it at that. It would have just been another one of the few times he had said something to me and then not spoken to me for ages. I would have forgotten about him the same way I had before.

But this time had felt different. He had sought me out after the game, and then again today to spend the entire lunch period with me.

I walked into the classroom to find that, thankfully, Rei's detention was over. She pestered me about how mean I was to leave her like I had, but I wasn't paying her much attention as I shoveled the rest of my lunch into my face before class started again.

Just before the teacher started talking, she hissed at me, "You're going to tell me what happened at lunch later!"

I shook my head, but smiled anyway. Of course I would tell her. She drove me up the wall sometimes, but Rei was still my best friend and I should have known she wouldn't miss that something had thrown me off balance. Even when she was ranting about her own problems, Rei somehow never seemed to miss mine.

After class, Rei grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the school. I stayed mostly quiet, trying to work out why I was so confused and kind of hurt. I let Rei guide me home, and one we had settled ourselves in my room, she pulled a pillow into her lap and faced me.

"Spill."

With that once command, words came tumbling out of my mouth, making no sense to me but somehow Rei was able to translate. Unfortunately, her response was less than sympathetic.

"You're such an idiot."

I stared at her, then slumped over. "I know. The only think I don't know is why I'm acting so stupid! I mean, I've gone to school with him for almost all of my life, and we've hardly ever spoken. Now he talks to me twice and I turn into a complete moron!"

Rei nodded sagely. "Oikawa-san has that effect on people. Mostly girls, but there have been rumors about guys falling over him too."

I laughed half-heartedly.

"Poor Mi-chan," Rei patted my head. "I think you have it the worst of all of us. You're in denial."

My eyes shot up to meet hers. "Denial?"

"Yes," Rei nodded again. "You say you've known Oikawa-san for ages. I think you've liked him for a lot longer than you let yourself think."

"But I don't like him!" I exclaimed. "Sure, he's pretty, but I hardly know him! I can't like him if I don't know him!"

"Okay, then you're attracted to him," Rei tried to concede.

I thought about that for a second. "I suppose. On the surface, what's there not to be attracted to? Like I said, he's pretty. He's also tall, athletic, an amazing setter, and he knows he's good looking so he's confident. But he's a big flirt, hardly ever serious about anything besides volleyball, and kind of an egotistical jerk apparently."

"Yep, he is gorgeous," Rei commented, apparently having missed the last part of my musings.

"Do you like him?" I wondered.

"Sure," she responded. "But more like the way I like a celebrity. I'd never see a future with him; we're too different. Not enough in common I guess." Here she smiled evilly. "I could never spend an entire lunch period with him playing volleyball and hardly talking."

"Shut up!" I squealed and smacked her with a pillow. "Not helping!"

"Okay, okay," she laughed. "If you want help, I'd say forget about him."

"Seriously?"

"Well, yeah. He came up to you twice, then flirted with other girls and let you walk away. He's not worth your time. Unless all he actually wanted was to be your friend. Guys are a weird bunch. Tell you what, don't worry about him. If he approaches you again, then you can decide if you want to turn him down and ignore all chances of being his friend, or maybe more. But clearly you have more dignity and respect for him and yourself than most of his fangirls. Ultimately it's up to you."

I shook my head. "That was remarkably unhelpful." But despite Rei's advice not being helpful, I did feel better. My mind was no longer confused about Oikawa and I no longer felt like I was drowning in emotions. Sometimes being a teenage girl sucked.

Rei ignored my comment. "Now, if you're done moping about a boy, can we please talk about something important? Like how you abandoned me in detention to go on a date!"

"Rei!" I shouted. "Detention was your fault! And it was not a date!"

Rei cackled and rolled around on my bed as I continued to admonish her.

The next day I tried to relax, but I still found myself tense and looking over my shoulder on my way to school, before class, and during the breaks, but there was no sign of Oikawa all day. By the time the final bell rang, I released a sigh and at the same time tried to squash the slight feeling of disappointment that he hadn't sought me out.

"Mi-chan, I'll meet you by the gate after club!" Rei called as she ran to the school's pool. She had only been practicing twice a week so that she could walk home with me right after class on most days. So on the days she did practice, I waited after class for her to walk home.

"Okay!" I agreed. I tightened my grip on my bag and walked more slowly to the gym. When the boot finally came off, I was going to be spending every afternoon practicing. That way Rei could do the same with swimming. It was very nice of her to take so much time out from her favorite sport to walk with me and make sure I got home safely.

"Hiya, Minami-san!"

 **And I've left off on a mysterious person looking for Mi-chan! Whoever could it be... Please let me know what you like, want to see in future, or constructive criticism. I'd like to make this story more interesting!**

 **Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

" _ **Hiya, Minami-san!"**_

I jumped violently and whipped around at the voice. "Jesus! Son of a-! Dammit!" I clutched at my pounding heart and leaned against the nearest wall, breathing heavily.

Oikawa Tohru was bent in half, wheezing and cackling in sheer delight at the scare he had given me.

I caught my breath and did my best to stare haughtily down at him. "Can I help you with something, Oikawa-san?"

Oikawa looked up at me and wiped a tear from his eye. In between cackles he said, "S-sorry, Minami-san! Eheheh, who knew you were so jumpy!"

I turned around and walked away. He was the exact person who wasn't supposed to bother me today, and he had almost made it through the entire day without showing up around me!

"H-hey! Wait up!"

I kept walking but turned my head slightly, "Why should I?"

"Are you going to the gym?" He asked instead.

"I might be."

"Aww, Minami-san, don't be so mean!"

"Don't you have volleyball practice, or something else to be doing?" I didn't look at him. I kind of didn't want him to have something else to be doing.

"Well sure, but not for a little while."

"So then why are you pestering me?" The words came out before I could stop them.

"Whatever do you mean?" He still had that shit-eating insincere smile on his face that rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

I turned on him so suddenly that he stop and his face froze. "I'm serious Oikawa-san."

Oikawa's face fell a little. "Oh."

I hurried to clarify myself. I had already dug the hole, I might as well carry on and find out what I had just realized was bothering me. "We've gone to school together for years. Why choose now to start talking to me?"

Oikawa just blinked at me.

I waited for a reply. When it was clear none was forthcoming, I turned and began walking away again. He was such a frustrating person! Why couldn't I ever get a clear answer from him!

I heard footsteps behind me again. "Minami-san, wait!"

It's not like I was walking very fast. Oikawa had long enough legs that he could easily catch up to me, even if I was running. I glanced up at him, and gave him a look that said, 'you better not be shitting me.'

"Look, I know we've gone to the same school forever; we've even been in the same classes sometimes! And I know you've played volleyball for a long time. I tried to talk to you a few times, but you never seemed interested." Here he rubbed the back of his head.

I wrinkled my nose. I hardly ever remember him trying to talk to me about anything that wasn't related to homework or some kind of school project. And what made him think I was interested this time?

"Um, sorry?" I replied. "To be honest, I don't actually remember you talking to me."

His face dropped, and I almost felt pity for him until he opened his mouth.

"Whaat? Minami-san! How could you forget about me?"

I clenched my fist and took a deep breath, reminding myself that punching him would be inappropriate and childish. "That still doesn't explain why you decided to talk to me now." I said instead.

"First I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt. That was my serve that the Karasuno player shanked way off court. Plus, I was kind of impressed at how easily you blocked it from hitting you in the face!" He shot me what I think was supposed to be a winning smile, but I just rolled my eyes. "I mean, it was like you weren't even looking when, _bam!_ You just reached up and deflected it!"

"I wasn't looking," I mumbled.

"Hmm?" He intoned, looking down at me.

"Nothing," I waved it off. We had reached the gym, but I wanted to hear the rest of his explanation so I leaned against the wall and asked, "So? You made sure I was okay, and I was. Why come back the next day?"

"Honestly, that was an accident!" He smiled again. I shivered. His smile just didn't seem right. Not like his laugh had yesterday.

"Okay, but you still hung out with me for the entire lunch period?"

At this, Oikawa smirked. "Why all these questions Minami- _san_?"

I couldn't hold back on my previous impulse, and punched him in the chest. "Get your head out of your ass, Oikawa-san!"

He gasped and clutched his chest. "Minami-san is so violent!"

I looked past him and took on a pensive expression. "You confuse me, Oikawa-san. I'm just trying to figure stuff out."

"Are your feelings all twisted up?" He mocked.

I clenched my fists again and deadpanned, "Oikawa-san gives me anxiety."

"Ack!" Oikawa's face fell and he pouted. I didn't bother to change my expression, so he straightened up and a small smirk adorned his face. "Fine. I wanted to spend some time with you. Like I said, I tried to talk to you in grade school and middle school, but the only thing I thought I could talk to you about was school, and you never seemed interested. But when you were with your friends you turned into such a different person. I wanted to understand that person. Besides, Iwa-chan abandoned me for the library! I told you that!"

I took a breath. Of course Oikawa could go and say something kind and follow it up with that afterthought! But, if Oikawa could flirt so easily and thoughtlessly, then it was only fair turnabout to try it on him.

"Well, I'm glad you did. You made a pretty good partner, Oikawa-san. Especially since Rei-chan ended up in detention." I turned my face and pouted, but glanced up at Oikawa. His expression was caught somewhere between pride and confusion. _'Good,'_ I thought. "And today?" I continued.

"Happy coincidence!" He declared.

' _Happy coincidence my ass.'_ Instead I said, "The boys gym is on the other side of the school…"

He froze and put a hand behind his head again, "Ahahaha, I had to come get something over here, ahahaha!"

I smirked, Rei's words floating back to me. _'The question is, why wasn't he flirting with me?'_ That was now looking like a fair point. Before I could stop my words, they tumbled out of my mouth in a self-confident tone. "Oikawa-san, if you wanted to just ask me out, you didn't have to stalk me to do it."

 _Oh no._ Those words did not just come out of my mouth. Please, _please_. But apparently they had because Oikawa had frozen. And so had I. I couldn't move any part of my body. My mouth was stuck in a horrified 'O' and my eyes were wide and filling with mortified tears.

Oikawa hadn't responded, and I didn't even bother to look for the satisfaction and derision I knew I would see in his eyes. I forced my legs to move and fled awkwardly through the gym doors to the relative safety of the girls changing room.

 **Woops. This is way later than I had intended, but hopefully whoever is reading this, liked it!**

 **I liked the banter between Oikawa and Mi-chan in this chapter! What did you think? As always, please drop me a review letting me know what you liked, what you hope to see in future, and/or constructive criticism so I can make this story more interesting.**

 **Thanks!**


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